The 21-year-old New York University Senior told CLO. "It was a really special tournament, and I felt like I got a few breaks when I needed it."

On the following game against Kolev, Mac said "Qg4 in this game was a
blunder (because it allows Kf7 Qd7+Be7) but it's still winning,
Qd5...wins immediately."

At the end of his game against Mitkov, who flagged in the final position, Mackenzie said, "I thought this game was interesting too because of my
kind of bad opening, all of my pieces went to unnatural squares but
somehow it still worked out."